Five reasons why the Dodgers replaced Ned Colletti

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Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti talks with reporters after announcing that the team would pick up Grady Little's option for 2008 and add a club option for 2009, Tuesday, March 20, 2007 in Vero Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Longtime Tampa Bay Rays general manager Andrew Friedman has been named the new president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers. (2013 file photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)

1. The players’ performances regressed and someone had to pay.

It’s always easier to fire a coach, manager or executive than it is to dismantle a $240 million roster. Clayton Kershaw lost twice in a four-game series. The same lineup that led the National League in hitting with runners in scoring position during the regular season batted .195 in the same situations in the National League Division Series. Where do you begin to assign blame? It might not be fair, but the man responsible for assembling the players is often the top target. Colletti isn’t the first general manager to take the axe for his players’ shortcomings, and he won’t be the last.

2. Team president Stan Kasten is convinced he has a better candidate.

Pulling the trigger becomes easier with a viable replacement in mind. In new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers are getting someone who worked as a general manager — and the past three years as executive vice president of baseball operations — with a perenially small budget for the Tampa Bay Rays since 2005. The 37-year-old has built four playoff teams since 2008, all while working with a payroll that ranked no higher than 27th in the major leagues. Bloomberg Businessweek recently named the Rays the “smartest spenders” among the 122 MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL franchises. “Smart spending” is music to any owner’s ears.

3. We’re seeing a trend here, and it doesn’t favor gray-haired GMs.

Four of the five National League West GMs have been replaced in 2014. (The fifth is Brian Sabean, whose Giants are playing for the pennant. Hey, it’s a tough division.) The new guys include A.J. Preller in San Diego and Jeff Bridich in Colorado, both 37, and 57-year-old Arizona GM Dave Stewart, who has a background as a player, coach, executive and agent. What all three have in common is a fresh set of eyes, a tangible quality to differentiate themselves from a more experienced scout-turned-executive who spent decades climbing organizational ladders. That description fits the 60-year-old Colletti to a tee. It’s no reason to fire a man by itself, but it seems to be a common thread.

4. Kasten must have felt Colletti had enough time.

Kasten enjoyed fairly stable front-office situations with the Nationals and Braves. In 21 seasons combined, he hired three GMs. More than past performance, Colletti’s firing is probably about future stability. If you believe a “World Series or bust” mentality is tenable in baseball, maybe you believe the new GM is already on the hot seat. If you do not, expect Colletti’s successor to be given enough time to establish his own organizational blueprint.

5. Kasten must have felt Colletti had enough money.

The Guggenheim baseball budget, the largest in the game, amounts to all the resources in the world. Yet the Dodgers haven’t reached the World Series since Colletti was hired in 2005. If they can’t win with a $20,000 international budget, that’s Frank McCourt’s fault. If they can’t win with a player payroll in the neighborhood of $240 million, what would it take? Maybe that was one question Kasten couldn’t sleep off.